


Siren Song

by CrumblessGretel



Category: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Creature Fic, Gen, Sirens
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-19
Updated: 2020-11-22
Packaged: 2021-03-10 06:08:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,113
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27638681
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CrumblessGretel/pseuds/CrumblessGretel
Summary: From his first interactions with the Goldstein sisters, Newt knows there’s something off about them but quickly disregards the itch in the back of his mind for some more pressing concerns: his missing case, loose creatures, and Grindelwald to name a few.
Relationships: Queenie Goldstein/Jacob Kowalski, Tina Goldstein/Newt Scamander
Kudos: 9





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> First ever fic, because Alison Sudol is a goddess of song and Queenie Goldstein’s wand has a seashell at the end. Will likely continue this as I get excited for the next movie or listen to more A Fine Frenzy.

From his first interactions with the Goldstein sisters, Newt knew there was something off about them but quickly disregarded the itch in the back of his mind for some more pressing concerns: his missing case, loose creatures, and Grindelwald to name a few. 

Queenie’s ease in manipulating men was easily explained by her beauty and natural legilimency. Especially in contrast to Tina and her straightforward approach to life, there was no reason to suspect anything deeper. But again, there was that itch in Newt, something that was telling him to look deeper. 

He managed to deny that urge until she comes to visit him with Jacob in tow, a Jacob who is clearly out of his mind and enraptured. She claims it to be a typical love spell and teasingly brings up their old argument about the worth of a Hogwarts education versus Ilvermorny when he doubts her. “More of that lacking Hogwash education then,” is her laughing response to his concern at her using unknown magics on his friend. He knows it’s not a lack of education that keeps him from recognizing her work. Though he favors studying magical beasts, he had made an exception during the war after Theseus experienced a scare with a love potion. He doubts there are many wizards more versed than he is in those brews and spells that remove free will in the name of love. For the second time now he has seen a loved one puppetted around, personality and choice locked behind another’s control and it scared him that nothing he previously learned can explain it. All he can think is that perhaps this is magic beyond what would be available to regular magic folk. 

It is then that he approached Tina with his questions. He may not understand people as well as he does creatures but he knows enough from uncomfortable prior experience to know not to begin by sharing excited theories about the possibility of a being/creature in her and Queenie’s ancestry. While he maintains that being chosen to mate with a goblin or veela (both of whom are notoriously picky, far more so than humans who will throw themselves at anyone who shows an interest) would be an honor on one’s ancestor, British magical society disagrees with him quite strongly. Newt learned early on in his life that the mere suggestion that family skill in a particular branch of magic may have come from less than “pure” roots was offensive to most. And being the one to make that suggestion would only result in social shunning and never in answers to his questions. So he started by dancing around what he truly wanted to ask for fear of alienating this woman he had grown to care for so much. 

Two things worked against Newt in this approach: first, that Tina herself preferred to be upfront and expected the same in return and second, that the Goldstein parents were lost early in Tina and Queenie’s lives. Oblique questions about passed on skills in elemental or mind magics were of no use when Tina’s knowledge of her family history was pretty much limited to her and her sister. 

“What are you getting at, Newt? I can’t help you if you won’t tell me what you’re looking for.” Tina’s exhaustion and hurt regarding her estranged sister were on full display as she tried to parse through their conversation for the purpose behind it. She had never been the sister who could hear others’ thoughts as easily as breathing, had blessed and cursed that lack in equal measure as she thought of the uses it would have in her job, while at the same time remembering caring for a younger and more vulnerable Queenie, who wanted nothing more than to stop hearing everyone all the time with no say on her end. Children can be cruel, even more so the things they think but would never dare to say. 

“I think that what Queenie did to Jacob was not a love spell. There are times, more often than I think any families want to admit, when there is some creature ancestry that passes on specific traits. Those traits can range from physical appearance to magical skills. Even within the same family there is variation, for instance one child with goblin ancestry may inherit only the stature while another inherits the skill in battle and another gains some mixture. There was a girl back home I would swear had some dryad in her but she about bit my head off when I tried to verify it. Anyway, the two I think I can narrow it down to that would fit for your family would be veela or sirens. Opposites in their affinities, fire and water, but both possessing beauty and the ability to enchant and control men.”

“I...think I may have your answers Newt. I may not have gotten much time with my parents but when they were alive our house was full of my mother’s singing and it was, truly, magical. She could lift your mood, lull you to sleep, make you feel loved and safe, all with just a few notes. Just, if that’s how Queenie was controlling Jacob, why now? We’re both adults and this is the first either of us has shown that sort of ability. Siren song, right?”

Newt had to think about that. The lack of transparency about “abnormal” ancestries meant that there wasn’t as much information as he’d like on the subject. “Sirens are able to control when they use their song to influence or control. I don’t know if it’s the diluted heritage or lack of opportunity for your mother to train you two that made it take so long to manifest. Queenie may not even know what she’s doing.”

“Why does that not make me feel better?”

“It shouldn’t. Uncontrolled mind magics are dangerous. To her and others.”


	2. Chapter 2

Queenie Goldstein was a reasonable witch with dreams that should have been within reach yet kept evading her. In a world where she did not have the gift/curse of such strong natural legilimency she may have thought her desires too lofty. Her hopes were only for a partner who genuinely loved her, for a home like the one that had been taken from her too soon- full of music and laughter and children running in and out of the kitchen while she used her wand to create delicacies rather than to unclog the john for MACUSA employees too self important to do it themselves. As it stood, she was witness to the myriad of selfish, sky high expectations so many around her carried, watched them not only receive allowance but encouragement to pursue their wildest dreams and it burned. She asked so little of the world and was denied even that. She had found her love and future in Jacob, a delightful no-mag whom she could envision living out a joyful sugar encrusted life with, but no, not only could she not have what she wanted but her only family turned against her as well. And when she ended up enchanting Jacob during a fight that looking back was all a blur, he was lost to her as well. All she had wanted was to make him listen- to trust her and put his fears aside. He would rather abide by a centuries old rule that had no reason for still existing. 

For all that her sister and Newt would like to believe that they were firmly on the side of what was good and right, it was clear to anyone who cared to look that change was needed. Even her sweet Jacob would prefer to stay in a world where those with power would steal his memories and their future without a second thought than go against the status quo. Even though she still hoped with all her heart he would see reason and come back to her once he didn’t need to fear such ridiculous laws any more, she knew that even if he didn’t return she would be creating a future of hope and choice for future others in their situation. 

Her job now was to help Gellert with Credence. Queenie had always enjoyed taking care of others, had thrived knowing she was helping bring joy and safety. Credence was in desperate need of someone to care for him and she was happy to help with that. He of course was just further proof that the group she was now apart of was not only right but necessary. That poor boy’s abhorrent treatment at the hands of Mary Lou Barebone could be laid squarely at the feet of the Statute of Secrecy and she couldn’t understand why others were so blind to the damage that hiding from and refusing to associate with the no-mags was doing. That abhorrent Barebone woman acted with ignorance and hatred that had grown from fear, a fear she passed onto her “children.” Queenie knew, sure as day, that all the damage wrought by the obscurial could have been avoided if their people weren’t so determined to hide their world away, even from scared, abused boys who didn’t understand the things they were making happen or how to stop. 

Gellert understood. He put into words the unhappiness she had been feeling over being denied Jacob at her side. He was able to empathize with her pain and shared his plans with her for a world where everyone would be free and unbound by secrecy. It broke her heart to leave Tina and Newt but her heart had already been fractured when they turned their backs on her, Tina especially. They had basically raised each other after their parents’ passing and Queenie had been Tina’s greatest cheerleader and support throughout her career. When she was demoted it was Queenie who had held her up and comforted her, who planted seeds anywhere she could of how exceptional Tina was and how lucky any department would be to have her grace their floors. Queenie who made time to chat with her sister’s former coworkers to try and drum up support for a reinstatement. And the second the chips were down for Queenie, Tina chose the side of cold, unfeeling bureaucracy over her own flesh and blood. Forgot all the sacrifices made to help her achieve her dreams and called Queenie’s dreams unrealistic. 

That was fine. She had someone new to share secrets and late night hot cocoa with, even if Credence at the beginning frequently seemed hesitant and suspicious of her overtures. He often didn’t participate in the cooking or sewing or reading she chose to do nearby and always invited him to join in with, but seemed soothed by her humming and the half formed songs that came out as she tried to replicate the feelings of home and belonging her own mother was able to bring about so easily. The more time they spent like this, the more at ease he became in Gellert’s base and the more willing to listen he was. He was such a powerful boy and one who had seen firsthand how damaging the lack of interaction between magical and no-mag people was. Helping bring him around to Gellert’s way of thinking would help immeasurably and to be able to do so just by making his environment feel like home and treating him kindly was something she was happy to do. 

It was also refreshing being around so many hard to understand minds. Whether from thick accents or occlumency, Queenie had never felt less mentally bombarded than she did inside Nurmengard. Gellert was so sweet and didn’t like his acolytes with easily understood minds interacting with her, expressing concern over wanting her to be there due to her own desires and not constant propaganda, and thus Credence was the only one whose thoughts she frequently heard and understood. This also gave her space to really focus on how he was feeling and how to grant any desires he may have so he would stay and fight with them. And she knew there would be a fight ahead- the aurors fought viciously and ruthlessly against good people simply because they believed in Gellert. They had even killed a young girl who had apparently committed a crime worthy of death just by coming out to hear him speak. It would not be an easy path to the top, no but she knew with Credence’s help it wouldn’t be as hard as it could be. And so she felt content and like an integral part just by sharing what she gathered and by helping grow Credence’s happiness and loyalty.


End file.
